Tired and Weary
by charlibear13
Summary: My take on this weeks episode and how the junior doctors are dealing with the new shifts. lots of Ethan and Cal scenes but other characters are mentioned aswel


**Ok so another writer CBloom2 (who writes awesome Ethan/Cal stories) came up with an idea of writing a fic about the brothers based on the week's casualty episode. And I think it's a brilliant idea as I would love there to be more Ethan and Cal stories out there (although the ones you are all writing are fab). So I have decided that I will also try and upload a fic every week, just a one shot based on the episode. If there is no Cal and Ethan scenes I will make them up haha. Anyway hope you enjoy! **

Tired and Weary

The junior Doctors had been on their new Rota's for over a week 9 day's in total with just one day off, long 10 hour shifts with 6 hours of studying after them. They were exhausted they were snapping and they were fading fast.

Lilly who lived on her own was anything but her normal charming self, instead of the cutting remarks she was just silent even polite on some occasions.

That should had been the first clue to Rita that something was wrong.

The second was Dr Ethan Hardy, who lived with his older brother, Ethan was normally a very confident Dr, always checked and double check before diagnosing. But lately he had been more stressed and he was constantly looking for back up, or a second opinion normally from his older brother Cal, who took his questions on his chin but had a permanent troubled expression on his face when he looked at Ethan.

The 3rd clue was again from Ethan, when he was dealing with an angry patient and the first person he asked to help him was Cal, she knew that things were getting bad.

Ethan and Cal had a close relationship since the crash, but Ethan was never dependent on Cal, for him to be asking and looking for him at every opportunity may well have been a neon red sign flashing above his head saying 'I need Help'

Cal didn't seem too bothered by Ethan's reaction and whenever Ethan seemed on the verge of panic Cal would appear with a 'hey hi you doing buddy?' or a hand on the shoulder as soon as Ethan realized he was there he'd be fine.

Lilly had almost fainted already through not having time to eat or sleep and one look at Ethan told Rita he wasn't going to be standing much longer.

After trying and failing to get through to Connie, Rita pulled Cal aside

"How are you coping Cal?"

Cal frowned at her "I'm ok Rita, could use more sleep, but the hours I'm used after my time in America where anything less than a 16 hour shift was considered as part time"

Rita nodded taking in the bags under Cal's eye's "are you worried about Ethan and Lily"

Cal sighed "Lily is dead on his feet, and Ethan, well he's about 5 minutes away from flipping out on someone, and I know you've noticed the way he constantly looks for me"

Rita nodded interrupting Cal "why does he do that

Cal shrugged "not really sure it's something he's always done when he's unsure or when he's ill or tired, he's not been this bad since his exams in Med School"

Rita nodded "so what do we do"

Cal looked around "you need to look after Lily, I can't look after both of them , as for Ethan, hell deny there's anything wrong until the bitter end, Ethan is stubborn, so all I can do is try and help where I can and be there for when he does break"

For the rest of the shift Rita kept a close eye on all the Junior Doctor's and When Dr Keogh started speaking out of turn saying Cal wasn't pulling his weight she flipped

I think you'll find Dr Keogh that as well as managing his own influx of patients, Cal also has to watch Ethan's and Lily's they are both unintentionally leaning on him, so if it looks like he's not where he's supposed to be it's probably because he's where he is needed most"

She paused before continuing " If you want to do something useful then I suggest taking it up with Connie, because right now Cal is probably the only Junior Doctor holding it together and it won't take much to push him over the edge"

Dr Keogh was shocked and shook his head walking in the direction of Connie's office he passed Ethan and Cal and spoke

"Nathan I need you out front ready to deal with an RTA"

Ethan shook his head he was already behind and Cal sensing his panic spoke up

"His name is Ethan, learn and use it, as for the RTA, I got a break in the flow so I can take it"

For the second time in 2 minutes Dr Keogh was rendered speechless so just nodded

Cal turned to Ethan who nodded his thanks and Cal went to great the patient.

45 minutes later and Ethan was at the nurses station, Rita saw him looking around and spoke quietly to him

"Cal's in resus, you ok"

Ethan turned a little red before looking at Rita and answering "I wwasn't looking for Cal"

Rita smiled nodding "it's ok Ethan, your secrets safe with me"

Ethan nodded and turned to Dr Keogh who he assumed was talking to him as he called to an 'Evan'

Ethan was tried to regulate his breathing but his day had gone from bad to worse Lily had been sent home and he and Cal were dealing with her patients too. When Dr Keogh called him by the wrong name again he lost it

He threw down the notes that he was using and spoke in a load voice "Dr Keogh, I find it hard that someone that managed to get through years of education successfully had difficulty remembering a name, my name is Ethan, it is not hard to remember and I would appreciate it if you would try, unless of course the use of the wrong name is your way of trying to intimidate me, and let me know that I less of a doctor than you"

Ethan paused then continued before Dr Keogh could answer him

"I am well aware of my short coming as a doctor and I don't need you pointing it out to me every 5 seconds, I don't need your help, what I need is for you to remember my, say it with me now E. T. H. A. N.

Ethan, not hard 5 letters"

He did not see Cal coming up behind him until he stepped in between him and Dr Keogh, Cal called his name and it snapped Ethan out of the haze of anger and exhaustion

"Ethan, let it go, lets me and you go for a walk, grab some fresh air huh"

He realized that everyone was looking and watching him and his head dropped down, he allowed Cal to lead him through the crowd of their colleagues and a way from Dr Keogh who was standing there looking a little bit like a fish out of water

Rita couldn't resist a quick "I think you should remember his name now"

Cal led Ethan out of the hospital and too a bench where he sat the younger man down and sat down next to him

Ethan took a big breath and laughed "was that you or me in there"

Cal smiled "think I may have rubbed off on you kid" Ethan began to laugh until it turned to hiccups which led to tears

Cal turned and had an arm around him "hey, it's ok, we're all exhausted Ethan, Dr Keogh knows this, don't worry about it"

Ethan shook his head "I can't do this, if this is what it means to be a doctor, then I don't have what it takes"

Cal turned to him "ok, you are going to listen to me now because this is never going to happen again and if you tell anyone I swear I will deny this conversation ever happened ok"

Ethan nodded and Cal continued

"you are an excellent doctor, the best at your age that I have ever seen, you are exhausted because of the amount of hours both working and studying you have had to put in, it's ok to ask for help and I promise you that where I can I will help you"

He held a hand up, "I also promise that I will help Lily, but you need to promise me that you will ask for help when you feel overwhelmed and that you will never doubt yourself as a doctor"

Sometime during Cal's speech Ethan had had begun to cry and before he knew what he was doing or had time to change his mind he leant forward and leaned hi head on Cal's shoulder while Cal brought his arms around him and just held him as he cried. Cal knew Ethan was only crying because he was so exhausted and new that Ethan would hate to be showing weakness.

Sure enough Ethan soon pulled back mutter a quiet "sorry" and wiping at his eyes Cal smiled a small smile

And pulled him in to hug "this is another thing that nobody gets to find out because hugging is definitely not part of Dr Knight's Reputation"

He heard Ethan laugh and pulled back smiling glad his comment had done what he wanted and cheered Ethan up but he could resist his next comment as they stood up

"What do you say Nathan, ready to go face the music?"

Ethan lightly punched Cal in the arm laughing before grabbing his arm and turning him around

"Thank you, for everything, and I won't tell anyone but just so you know, I'm glad you're prepared to ruin your reputation for me"

Cal smiled slinging an arm over his shoulder "anytime nibbles, or maybe I should start calling you rocky, you know if you're going to pick fights and all"

Dr Keogh and Rita watched as they entered the Ed laughing and joking and Rita smiled knowing that Cal had his brother under control she turned to Dr Keogh to ask what was wrong when he spoke

"I really need to call my brother, after I speak to Connie about theses Rota's"

Rita laughed and went about her tasks with a smile on her face.

**Ok so here's my take on the episode last night. Loved how Cal comforted Lily, but as we didn't really get a Cal and Ethan moment decided to write one myself. Hope you all enjoyed **

**Please read and review**

**C xx**


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